Sony Music and Universal take Musi to court in Canada

Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group have launched legal action in Canada against Musi, a streaming app that pulls music from YouTube without a license, Music Business Worldwide and Complete Music Update both reported on August 6 and 7. IFPI, the trade body representing the recorded music industry worldwide, is coordinating the action alongside its Canadian affiliate, Music Canada.

The filing accuses Musi of making copyright protected recordings available without authorization and of deliberately circumventing the technical protections YouTube uses to guard its content, denying artists and rightsholders income. IFPI has branded Musi a parasitic app, saying it mimics licensed streaming platforms while pulling copyrighted recordings from other services without permission.

"We are serving notice on parasitic apps, which are designed specifically to exploit artists and their music, and undermine legitimate music services," said Victoria Oakley, CEO of IFPI.

Musi was removed from Apple's App Store in September 2024 after complaints from rightsholders and YouTube over copyright infringement, though users who downloaded it earlier can still use it. A federal judge dismissed a separate suit Musi brought against Apple over that removal in March 2026, and a Wired report cited by MBW found the app had been downloaded 66 million times, earning roughly $100 million in advertising revenue between January 2023 and spring 2024.

The action is part of a broader IFPI enforcement push that shut down Y2mate.com and 11 other stream-ripping sites in Vietnam in October 2025, sites IFPI says drew more than 620 million visits over the prior year.